SST box contents, price, and cover art - opinions?

Would you still pick up SST now knowing whats in the box?

  • Yeh I think its reasonably priced

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Yeh, but I think its over priced

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, I think its over priced and/or is out of my price range

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, I'd rather spend my money on something more secure

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
Lets look at it this way. I go to my FLGS I purchase my SST and open it there take a quick run through of the rules break out the mini's glue them together build my card bunker and now I start playing right out of the box with a objective." Come on and get some you dirty bugs. No six legged monster is going to take my card bunker as long as my MI can hold a gun. "
And just think it's probly just the type of objective that the MI would have to defend. and probly made out of the same material.
 
i'm soory i relly don't understand what you getting at, do you think the bunker in the box is good becuase you can star right away or what? pleese explane for me 9'm a little slow) :lol:
 
Let me give you another take on the pricing vs. contents of the box set....

3.33 boxes of Arachnid Warriors = $67US.

Starter box set = $75US.

So, msprange is telling me that I'm going to get 16 MI ($40US), a spiffy printed rulebook (no independent $ value, but let's call it roughly $30 if sold separately), templates and a cardstock bunker FOR ONLY EIGHT DOLLARS! That's near 90% off on the additional stuff, kids - sounds like a steal to me.

Let's also add that the game itself is much more interesting and exciting to play than.... another company's games* (though most of you won't know that for another month or two, poor souls), and that I can get a complete (read 'suggested tournament size') army for less than half the total cost of an average-sized (SM, Brettonian, etc) GW army. How is any of this a bad thing?

*Then again, I find playing solitaire much more exciting than playing most GW games, BFG excepted. YMMV.
 
Here in OZ, one of our major suppliers of games (other then GW) simply multiplies the cost of the product in US $ by 2.1 then tells us that you are supporting the local store etc. At the moment the Australian dollar is at about 70 odd cents to the dollar.....

Warmachine, has been priced out of alot of peoples range here, $90 per box set when compaired with the $40 odd US retail price.......

But lets face it, at the end of the day, we are really after quality AND durability over time, quantity is good but I would rather have a kick-ass game, with some awsome models, instead of a crap game with cheap ass models!

I think the price is about right, and when compaired to the quality of the models, again the price seems to fit well.

Another surgestion, as well as the card board biulding etc that comes with the box set, could Mongoose please supply downloadable templates of more biuldings as well? With a bit of work on the part of the gamer, a MI base could easyly be constructed.
 
Lonestar said:
Here in OZ, one of our major suppliers of games (other then GW) simply multiplies the cost of the product in US $ by 2.1 then tells us that you are supporting the local store etc. At the moment the Australian dollar is at about 70 odd cents to the dollar.....

Then order direct from the US. Even with the postage it would probably be cheaper.
 
I am afraid I am going to have to disagree with, well, practically everything you said in that last post

Thats fair enough Matt, but remember I wouldnt be saying it unless I felt it needed to be said. You have to admit though sales will be down because of inconsistancy in release dates.

We are going to do fine, Starship Troopers will prove popular and we'll do our best to remain as gamers and not become suits. Playing games is more fun anyway.
I'm glad you have such confidence in the product and yourselves. But its still gambling big time. Minitures is a big step. Congratulations on ACTA, although that grew up as an expansion to your RPG's and not an entity in its own right. Mighty Armies did grow up in its own right, and has the smallest forum on this site (or one of the smallest).
You've been able to drum up such interest because it was a cheaper, better looking alternative to 40k with a familiar product, and credit goes to you for capitalising on this and creating one of the largest forums for it without releasing any models. But its all been blind faith, and unless the game is of at least equal quality then all of the workshop games then it just wont run because of how long its taken to get the game out.
The older players who would do this game good (the ones like myself who've been wargaming over a decade, as opposed to the suit makers who buy everything eight or nine times) wont take it up. Sure they'd probably buy a box or two, but personally I'd only buy the bugs because I could use them as spawn in my chaos fantasy. I havent got the money to waste on blind faith (which is why I joined the MI, but again thats not the point)

Please understand that while we do not run a company as you would, we have been here before. . .
Yes I'm fully aware but so far you've had your own market in effect. ACTA came off the RPG, MA was independant but doesnt seem that popular, GMC1 (ignoring the bizarre hunchbacks) again has its own market. SST is going head to head with 40k. If you had maybe released an RPG before the minitures game then you could have mimicked the success of ACTA.

Your listening to gamers and we all think thats excellent, but we've waited and waited for SST. I hope for the companys sake that its worth the wait i really do
 
AD said:
Thats fair enough Matt, but remember I wouldnt be saying it unless I felt it needed to be said. You have to admit though sales will be down because of inconsistancy in release dates.

Actually, I think it will make very little difference - it is just not that sort of market. What matters _far_ more is that we can supply when it starts selling, which has been the bugbear of a lot of newer miniatures companies.

Being two months from projected dates is annoying and irritating for both gamers and us (!) but I don't believe it will seriously affect sales. If anything, it is allowing us to court more customers, retailers and distributors in the mean time. Plus an extended preview period will certainly not hurt.

I also think you are misjudging our target market slightly, but time will tell there. It would be nice if we were able to pull GW players away but I don't seriously believe that will happen in the short or medium term. But then again, we don't have to. . .
 
"Thats fair enough Matt, but remember I wouldnt be saying it unless I felt it needed to be said. You have to admit though sales will be down because of inconsistancy in release dates."

I wouldn't agree with this. Privateer Press started with a rough schedule and it would appear that they are doing just fine. I know that the people that I game with are looking for something new for a futuristic type of game. So we will give SST the chance and if its good we will run with it and I am sure will have lots of fun. I say give it a chance and lets see what hapens.
 
But its not a rough release schedule as such, its a non existant one.

Come on Matt Mongoose arent distributors, its on the site that you'd rather people bought from retailers. But if people are buying from retailers on pre order, and then having to wait for it to possbily come within the next four months. And £50 is a lot of money to pay for nothing (eventually it'll come yes, but you have to start worrying when it doesnt come after two months)

I also think you are misjudging our target market slightly, but time will tell there. It would be nice if we were able to pull GW players away but I don't seriously believe that will happen in the short or medium term. But then again, we don't have to. . .
Whats the target market then? I mean you have Andy Chambers on who co wrote the 40k 2nd and 3rd, SST looks so far to be striking the middle ground. The veterans of the game will be keeping an eye on here, but mongoose are all over the place.
Theres lots of players of 40k 2nd edition who didnt like 3rd edition but adapted anyway because it was something they knew and there was nothing else. Confrontation and Warmachine have perhaps begun to tackle the GW empire but Mongoose doesnt look like it has a leg to stand on.

I mean, the models have been read for ages (as the component shots on Chamber's website proves) so why not get them out and restore some faith. If theres a rules preveiw up next week well be able to try it out for ourselves and not be stood around until (possibly) april wondering why I even considered putting the trusted marines away
 
AD said:
But if people are buying from retailers on pre order, and then having to wait for it to possbily come within the next four months. And £50 is a lot of money to pay for nothing (eventually it'll come yes, but you have to start worrying when it doesnt come after two months)

Personally speaking, we're not charging for preorders until we have copies ready to ship (SST@£44+postage)
 
Thats personally speaking though, and your 600+ postings means you are more aware of the situtation then many other distributors. Have you had any cancellation of orders?

As has been pointed out on the MI boards, when you go to a demo game the situation happens...
"Mongoose are doing Starship troopers you know"
"Even better, whens it coming out"
"January.. or feburary.. actually possibly April although then again..."
Doesn't work does it? GW might charge me the earth, but if it says Chaos warriors out X date then I can go get them. If theres something coming out, I can save up accordingly as can many others (my friend saved up when he heard about the Ogres). The longer it gets postponed the more tempted people get to spend there money on something else.
Why hold on to that £50 when you could go by a pile of new units, especially if the game isnt going to be out any time soon
 
AD said:
Thats personally speaking though, and your 600+ postings means you are more aware of the situtation then many other distributors. Have you had any cancellation of orders?
As of yet, no, but we only started taking pre-orders a few days back, for the very reasons you state :) It seemed silly to be doing it any earlier when everything seemed so far away from a more solid release date (but yes, it's still not solid)

Like you say, those 600+ posts paid off in being more in touch with whats being said here and less reliant on flyers from a distributor :)
 
(sorry its AD i just havent logged in)

But your what, one out of many distributors. You know because your here - what about the rest?

And as someone has quite rightly pointed out its cheaper to buy two starter box sets and flog the second set of rules, card, terrain on ebay rather then buy the boxes individually.

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=54787#54787
have a look here
 
A-D said:
(sorry its AD i just havent logged in)

But your what, one out of many distributors. You know because your here - what about the rest?

I should point out to any audience that might be watching this that we're a retailer, not a distributor (the distributors sell to the retailers), just to clear up any possible misunderstandings :)

If a retailer is specialising in an area such as this I think it's their responsibility to keep up to date with the products they're intending to sell. Thats where we try to be different to the other "internet box-shifters", by being able to offer advice and support to our customers because we know the products we're selling.

Finding out as much as possible about those products means communications with the distributor and manufacturers. Some distributors are nothing more than box-pushers themselves, so to get the real info it often means speaking to the manufacturer. In communication with some product manufacturers it's been made pretty clear to me that they have no interest in helping to educate their retailers. Most don't have the mechanism in place to support retailers coming to them with questions about their games (such as release dates, when they'll hit the distributor, whether such and such a product will only be available direct from themselves, etc.), but my experiences with Mongoose have shown them to be pretty much the most open manufacturer out there - I'm not sure I know of any other manufacturer where one of the directors themselves happily sits and answers questions on their message boards.

Anyone poking around on our website will notice that our stock listing is pretty heavily Mongoose-orientated. We're building relationships with customers, and that's easiest to do when it's a product we understand ourselves. Getting the information we need in order to do that has been simpler with Mongoose than any other manufacturer. Something I've been trying to put in place for a little while now is a "if we don't understand it, we're not selling it" policy.

Lets take an example of a customer who buys a wargame starter set from us - I want us to be in a position where that customer can come back and ask for advice on what to purchase next in order to build their X,000 point army of whatever, which boxed sets offer best value for money to do so - not just in terms of amount of metal/plastic for their cash, but in real terms of which of those figures would actually be useful to them. That's the level of service I'd expect from an FLGS, and therefore the level of service I want to be able to provide as well.


A-D said:
And as someone has quite rightly pointed out its cheaper to buy two starter box sets and flog the second set of rules, card, terrain on ebay rather then buy the boxes individually.

True.

But if it wasn't, then people would be complaining about how they're not getting a good deal on the starter set. :)
 
The thing is though with the box pushers is people dont go to them for advice about armies and such. I've be wargaming long enough to know the products inside out, and if something comes out and I dont know about it a quick trip to a forum like this usually gives me an answer.

The retailers (sorry bout that, not distributors) will have been informed by Mongoose, which is why many said they were shipping in january. The company is clearly brilliant at what it does which is talking to customers but information waxes and wanes at all levels clearly. I mean, the infantry were getting the rules the second week in december so we could learn them, and thats when ACTA fleets were arriving as well. In turn the UK sky Marshall was/is suppose to be demoing in a weeks time SST - but hasnt got the rules yet (makes me wonder model wise though...).

Now if retailers are unclear of the situation, if customers are unclear, and the MI (who are totally in the dark unless they visit here often like me), and even matts unclear (february to april release date???) then how does that inspire faith in the range?

Im not trying to bad mouth you all because Mongoose are doing a great job, and a lot of people who've been watching the company are impressed at the overall approach to gaming especially wargaming. BUT information is clearly a problem and SST has shown that.

Ask around the boards and see what people think dont just take my word for it. If information was more solid people would have more faith in mongoose but its continually chopped and changed (Ive been informed that this happens with your RPG'S as well). Please, for the sake of the company, sit down with everyone important and write things in stone - even if it means huge delays in what you previously wanted; gamers prefer to wait for a definate date rather then an ever shifting one.
 
AD said:
The thing is though with the box pushers is people dont go to them for advice about armies and such.
True, they go to them because they're cheaper :)
This was something I thought about hard before we set up... I didn't want us to become just another discount mail order outlet taking trade from the FLGS, and wanted to take as much of that support you can get from a FLGS and take it onto the internet. To be honest we don't get that many emails asking questions, but I'm insistant we stay ready to answer those we do get :)

AD said:
The retailers (sorry bout that, not distributors) will have been informed by Mongoose, which is why many said they were shipping in january.

Assuming you mean the information available on this site, yes :)
The first thing I thought seeing the dates was "take that with a pinch of salt, this is the first time this company have tried this type of product". Possibly it was a bad idea announcing a date so far in advance. I'm guessing Mongoose wish in retrospect they hadn't.

AD said:
Now if retailers are unclear of the situation, if customers are unclear, and the MI (who are totally in the dark unless they visit here often like me), and even matts unclear (february to april release date???) then how does that inspire faith in the range?

Bear in mind that the difference in a late feb and early april release is a only matter of a few days in China. If production finishes a couple of days ahead of schedule, we get everything a month and a bit early. If not, the new years celebrations pretty much stuff everything :)

I'm in the habit of trying to answer things from both a retailer and customer prospective, but I'm aware that my customer prospective is somewhat different to "real" customers... how many customers can just choose to take a box off the shelf when they see a new product? Did I ever say I loved being a retailer? :D

It's a shame things have happened the way they have, and that there's so many unhappy about it. I just hope when we see the game it more than makes up for that :)
 
The first thing I thought seeing the dates was "take that with a pinch of salt, this is the first time this company have tried this type of product". Possibly it was a bad idea announcing a date so far in advance. I'm guessing Mongoose wish in retrospect they hadn't.
Not really when you think about it. ACTA is clearly popular even though its all metal so not as cheap as a plastics game. MA is also a little venture although it seems to have the time delay syndrome of SST. And then in turn theres GMC1.
I'm guessing they are now regretting the announcement. Although it would have been better if they had put the time later, and have the game come in early and be a storm rather then the slight damp drizzle its becoming.

Bear in mind that the difference in a late feb and early april release is a only matter of a few days in China. If production finishes a couple of days ahead of schedule, we get everything a month and a bit early. If not, the new years celebrations pretty much stuff everything
No. if it comes feburary its a month late (actually wasnt it orignally announced for late December?), if it comes in April then its four(or five) months late - a third of a year late...

I'm in the habit of trying to answer things from both a retailer and customer prospective, but I'm aware that my customer prospective is somewhat different to "real" customers... how many customers can just choose to take a box off the shelf when they see a new product? Did I ever say I loved being a retailer?
Im sort of in the same possession due to being in the Mongoose infantry. We get the stuff to demo with and the like, but then again because of that we can be more objective about the product. ACTA rules have rocked my gaming world quite frankly, especially having failed to pick up BFG a few years back. Because of that Ive trusted that Mongoose can do the job, and the warrior bugs show that. But I mean, the size of the starter box has dropped by a third (30 bugs down to 20), the price has gone up by a quarter (£40 upto £50), and its late. Sure I can imagine many young inexperienced gamers loving the fact that they get a little tower to build and some funky card, but the majority of Mongoose audience - the people on these boards - are no beginners to wargaming. I hope the models are good in the flesh I really do because the gangers are.. well bad to put it nicely. If the light MI look like that then It wont run. Theres better quality available elsewhere for the same price
(This is partly the reason why I think confrontation doesnt do so well, because there models are works of art in themselves)

It's a shame things have happened the way they have, and that there's so many unhappy about it. I just hope when we see the game it more than makes up for that
Thats what im hoping for. I can remember opening the 40k box and going 'wow' knowing i was going to get it on christmas day. But if after months of chompin at the bit to get the game and its a let down... I would not like to be a Mongoose Infantry member having to explain to people why the games late and not absolutely mind blowing..... damnit! I need a cunning plan
 
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